Complete Me
by Morralls
Summary: Curing Pepper of the Extremis virus had an adverse effect on her health, which is a fact that she will do anything to keep from Tony. As her condition worsens, Tony is faced with the most difficult question of his life: What will he sacrifice to save the woman he loves?
1. The Extremis Effect

_She didn't struggle as Killian strapped her into the machine. Had she known what he planned to do to her, perhaps she would have. A needle pressed into her neck, an injection of some kind. Was he drugging her? Killian just smiled at her with that disgusting pseudo gentlemanly charm. He would pay. She knew that. "You know that Tony is going to find me, and when he does-"_

_"Threatening me, Pepper?" He interrupted. "Let's just try to keep it civil for now, hmm? Anyway, my sources tell me that Tony Stark is en route to Miami right now. Which is all to the good, really. I have a surprise set up for Mr. Stark, and you, dear Pepper, are the bait. I can't pretend to be upset. I could use a pet genius, and Tony Stark could be just the man I'm looking for. You know all about Extremis by now, of course."_

_Pepper looked away as Killian wandered off to fiddle with a computer. She supposed that, after almost twelve years of knowing Tony, she should be used to the way geniuses had this need to gloat about how smart they were. "Clearly, I was right about it being highly weaponizable."_

_"Well, naturally. The only problem is that there's a... flaw... in the Extremis virus. You see... some people go... 'too hot,' we call it. The resulting explosion is rather fantastic. I need someone who can fix that flaw in the genetic code, and I believe your Tony is the person to do it."_

_"He'll never work for you." She didn't say it out of any sense of false bravado. Tony refused terrorists. He certainly wouldn't be interested in being a part of this._

_"You know, I rather disagree with you. I don't think Mr. Stark would be particularly likely o deny me. After all, what do you think will happen if you go too hot?"_

_"You're going to turn me into one of your monsters?" No. Oh God, no._

_"Monsters? I'm hurt, Pepper. My Extremis virus has helped people." Killian said. "I hope you don't mind, but I have other matters to attend to. Don't worry, my dear. Far weaker women than you have survived this. I'm sure you won't be the next human bomb."_

_He swept from the room, leaving Pepper alone. She needed help. She needed Tony. Then the pain started, and she forgot everything._

Pepper woke abruptly, shivering. Tony was dead asleep beside her, one arm buried beneath her pillow. One good thing about his surgery was that he slept like the dead. _She_ on the other hand... According to the lit screen of Tony's watch, it was 4:48 am, and she gave up on a good night's sleep for the eleventh night in a row. Moving carefully so as not to disturb him, Pepper stood and slipped into the bathroom, closing the door before she flipped the lights on. Her ivory skin was even paler than usual in the mirror, and the dark circles under her eyes were only getting darker. "What's wrong with you, Potts?" She asked her reflection softly. "You lived through it."

It didn't help. The nightmares came back every night, forcing her to relive parts of the entire debacle with Aldrich Killian. The hardest one was killing him. She had acted on pure instinct and Extremis-induced reflexes. Killian had died before she knew what she was doing. She remembered Tony, in the first days of Ironman, sitting in his lab with a scotch in one hand, telling her over and over again that _they deserved it, Pep. People like that... but I guess it's different. It's one thing to know that you make the weapons that are used to kill people. Reporters are always asking what it's like to have blood on my hands. I suppose now I can really give them an answer._

She had told him over and over that it was okay. She had never judged Tony for killing, though she knew perfectly well that he did it. So was it fair that she judge herself for the same thing? Killian may have started out with the right idea, but he had turned Extremis into a weapon, and he had used that weapon to kill innocent people.

"You have to think about it differently." Tony's voice from the doorway made her jump. "Ask yourself how many lives you saved, taking out Killian."

She met his eyes in the mirror. "Aren't I supposed to be helping you with your issues, not the other way around?"

He gave her the crooked smile she loved so much, making her breath come short. "No reason we can't help each other. It's not an easy thing. I know." He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his chest, wincing slightly when she leaned against the healing scar in the center.

"Tony, you're supposed to be taking it easy. God knows when we'll need Ironman again, and you'll have to be in top condition." She murmured, unbuttoning his shirt to check. A thin bandage was taped over his heart, concealing a set of stitches where the arc reactor used to be.

"Mmm. Don't take my shirt off unless you intend to follow up on that promise." Tony murmured, his arms tightening around her waist.

"Tony, it's five in the morning." She murmured. "We should go back to sleep."

"But I'm already up." Tony said, raising his eyebrows with a mischievous grin. "Pun intended."

"Big surprise." She said, falling easily into the banter.

"Pep, you don't have to give me all these compliments. I'm going to get a big head." Tony was grinning, enticing her to roll her eyes. He _would_. "I think I'm going to take a shower." He scooped her up into his arms and carried her in with him.

It was a very productive morning that somehow turned into a very long day.

Happy was just beginning to get back into overprotective mode, which was a headache that she had to deal with. There were maybe seventy positions that she needed to fill all over the company, there were changes to the security (Tony's requirement, not hers) that needed to be organized and taken care of. There were interviews to set up, meetings to schedule, a veritable _mountain_ of paperwork encouraging her to sign here, initial there, and all of it had to be read, processed, signed, and filed by the end of the day. The investors were still on her all the time, there were charity functions to prepare for, new ideas that Tony would have to go over, she had to look over all the reconstruction plans for the manor and the new house, and Harley wanted to visit for his summer break. That one made her smile. Tony could use someone around who actually understood his techno-jargon.

By the time she got out of there, she was exhausted. The color was gone from her face, she didn't want to see or talk to another person who would want her to take care of another thing, and for some reason, she was _freezing_. She just wanted to go home and curl up and watch a movie, but there was a fundraiser, and the CEO of the company had to be there.

Tony was already dressed by the time she got to the sixty-eighth floor of Stark Tower, their temporary digs while Avengers Manor - another one of Tony's projects - was getting remodeled, and a new house in Malibu was being built. He was clad classic Tony-style: a suit jacket and shirt over a pair of jeans that cost more than her paycheck and a pair of black boots. The look was completed with messy hair and a pair of Gucci aviators. "Pepper, get ready. We have a thing."

"What is this world coming to when Tony Stark is on me about being on time?" Pepper asked the house in general. To no one's surprise, it was Jarvis who answered.

"I've been asking myself that all day, Miss Potts."

"None of that from you." Tony commented, pulling her in for a kiss. His brow furrowed and he placed a hand on the back of her neck. "Pep, you're burning up. Are you feeling okay?"

"That must be why I've been so cold all day." She replied, snuggling into his warmth. The Tony Stark of old would have been demanding that she not get within ten feet of him. He really had changed, her Tony. "I guess, with everything that's been going on... I usually take better care of myself."

Tony frowned. "I should have been paying better attention. You aren't the only person who has to take care of you anymore. Come on. Bed."

"Tony, the fundraiser-"

"Will be just fine without us, Pep, but you need rest. You're exhausted." Tony said.

She shook her head. "Tony, it's our fundraiser. One of us has to be there." She argued.

"If I go to the fundraiser and promise to be good, will you rest?" Tony asked, already leading her to their room.

She should argue, she really should, but she couldn't find the energy within herself to care. "As long as you're good." She agreed, letting him tuck her into bed. He placed a scratchy kiss on her forehead.

"Rest, Pepper. You need it."

She smiled, already half asleep. She really did love him.


	2. Diagnostics

**Author's Note: So much positive feedback! I love it! I also realized that this fic might have been better off under the Avengers category, but let's be honest: Who doesn't love them all? Fair warning, I like my fics dark. Dark like Joss Whedon directed them dark. Hope that's okay with all you guys! I also included Bruce in this. I love Bruce. Now, onto the good stuff. **

Pepper didn't go into work the next day. (She would have, but Tony stole her keys and had Jarvis lock down their floor.) She convinced him that she was feeling better and was back at work the day after.

Stark Industries had to be run, whether or not the CEO was in peak condition. In her case, not. It took a week of not improving for her to decide to schedule an appointment with a doctor for the following month.

It was exactly 2:06 in the morning when she decided that she didn't have a month to wait. Luckily, she had a doctor nearby. On the 23rd floor, nearby. The room was a fully furnished lab, with all the technology that Stark Industries was famous for. Not only was it the most advanced laboratory in the western hemisphere, it was untouchable by the government, which made it a perfect place to hide in plain sight.

Since the events in New York the previous year, Dr. Banner had taken up near permanent residence in Stark Tower, even going so far as to set up a cot in the corner of the room. He spent a lot of time in there working, and rarely came out. Even more rarely did anyone go in there. Except Tony, of course, but Tony flew atomic bombs into space and gave his home address to terrorists, so clearly he had no respect for his own safety. She entered her access code, which let her into every room in the building, and slipped inside. Dr. Banner was bent over a microscope and didn't bother to look up when she came in.

"Dr. Banner?"

"It's Potts, right? Miss Potts?" Banner asked, still not looking up.

"Uh... yes. I need your help."

He sighed. "You people know that 'doctor' is not synonymous with 'therapist,' right?"

"I do. I'm not sure Tony does. That's not the kind of help I'm looking for, though." Pepper said quietly. What if he couldn't help her? What if something was really _wrong_, not the usual run-of-the-mill sicknesses?

"You're picking at your nails, Miss Potts. Do I make you nervous?" Banner asked, briefly smiling at her. He looked away again almost immediately, writing something on the notepad beside him.

"No, it's not that." Pepper looked down at her hands, surprised to find that she was indeed playing with her fingernails. She put her hands by her sides as Banner paused and actually looked at her.

"You're telling the truth. That's surprising. I make most people nervous."

"That must be frustrating." She never thought about what it must be like for him, people always walking on eggshells and talking cautiously. It would irritate the hell out of her.

"That's one of the reasons Tony's so refreshing." He admitted, smiling. "What can I do for you, Miss Potts?"

"It's... hard to explain. I don't really understand it myself." Pepper said, unbuttoning the bottom three buttons of her blouse. Banner threw a hand up over his eyes, looking away.

"Woah! Miss Potts, don't get me wrong. You're very... attractive, but-"

"Dr. Banner, if I was going to cheat on Tony, it wouldn't be with someone with problems like yours." Pepper snapped, flushing as red as her hair. "Please, this is serious."

He sighed, glanced at her, and whistled, long and low. Three buttons revealed nothing more than her midriff, except of course the dark line that was twining its way up her stomach. "That doesn't look good." He stepped closer, frowning as he inspected her skin. "When did this start, Miss Potts?"

"Last night... or this morning, and please, you can call me Pepper."

"Bruce." He replied laconically. He pressed a careful hand to her skin, calloused fingertips tracing the black vein and the thin lines branching off of it. "Ill need to do some blood tests... Do you have any other symptoms?"

"I had a fever last week." Pepper said. "I'm always tired, but I think that might be more from living with Tony than being sick."

"Are you pale? Dehydrated? Any sudden drops in your blood pressure?" Bruce asked, glancing up at her.

"Um... yes, not that I know of, and I don't _think_ so." Pepper said, trying to keep up with him. Bruce nodded absently.

"I'll have to check your blood pressure and heart rate..." He grabbed her wrist, staring at his watch, and held the tableau for a long moment. "Heart rate's a little elevated... It sounds like Sepsis."

"I'm... not sure what Sepsis is, Dr. Banner." Pepper admitted.

"Bruce. It's... in layman's terms, it's blood poisoning." He commented over his shoulder as he walked away, hunting through drawers. "I'm not sure where it would come from though. Do you have any recent burns? Lacerations?"

"No." Pepper frowned. That wasn't quite right, was it? "Unless you count extremis, but that wasn't an external thing. It was like... having magma inside of me, instead of blood. It didn't _hurt_, exactly, but it was burning, I suppose."

"Right. And Tony cured you." Bruce said, tugging a pair of latex gloves over his hands. A syringe in a sealed bag lay on the desk before him. "I need to draw some blood. Roll up your sleeve."

She did so. "But if I was cured of extremis - ow! How could that be the basis for blood poisoning?"

"It could be the way the virus reacted with your body. Or it could be an adverse reaction to the cure Tony concocted. The extremis virus had a flaw in the genetic code, and few antidotes work exactly right immediately. Often the first attempt affects different people in different ways." Bruce explained. He glanced up at the empty air. "Um... computer guy?"

"Sir, my proper name is JARVIS. It's an anagram for-"

"Jarvis." Pepper cut the computer off. "Don't get offended."

"It gets offended?" Bruce asked.

"He's an artificial intelligence system, and since Tony made him, he's very intelligent." Pepper replied.

"... Right... uh... Jarvis, then... could you run a test for Sepsis in Pepper's blood?"

"And _don't_ tell Tony." Pepper threw in. Banner raised his eyebrows. "Unless you want him barging in here, taking over your work and getting in the way?"

"Good point. Don't tell Stark." Bruce agreed. He slid the syringe into an empty slot in one of the computers.

"Analyzing the sample now." Jarvis informed them in crisp tones.

"So what happens if it is blood poisoning?" Pepper asked while they waited.

"Well, it's a bacterial thing. Some antibiotics should do the trick." Bruce shrugged. "It's not as uncommon as you'd think, though it usually occurs with people who are hospitalized. As long as the antibiotics work, it should go away fairly quickly."

"Analysis complete." Jarvis chirped. "The sample contains trace amounts of Sepsis that, according to simulations, resist treatment with all known antibotics. It appears to be a new strain of the Sepsis condition, resistant to all conventional cures."

Pepper looked at Bruce. "And if the antibiotics don't work?"

"Then I have my work cut out for me, synthesizing a cure." Bruce replied, drawing more blood from her arm.

"Bruce... if... if this doesn't work. If you can't create a cure..."

He looked at her, resignation in his gaze. "You die. Optimistically, I'd say in about three months. Sepsis spreads through the body, attacking your organs and shutting them down. Your lungs, kidneys, liver, your brain, your heart... they'll stop. Usually Sepsis will drop your body functions to the point where you'll be comatose, and it will take a few days to die from the beginning of the infection. If you've been sick for a week, this new strain must be moving very slowly."

"Do you think Tony would be of any help figuring this out?"

Bruce chewed his lip, thinking. "I... don't think so. Medical science isn't his field of expertise, and I don't think even Tony can become the expert I would need. If I can't create a cure within two months, I don't know that any working cure I could synthesize would be able to save you."

Pepper nodded. "Then will you not tell him? At least not right now. That goes for you too, Jarvis. Tony doesn't need to know."

"Yes, Miss Potts."

Bruce didn't look convinced. "You're not planning to die in secret, are you?"

"I'm not planning to die at all." Pepper replied casually. "At least not for another thirty or forty years. Unless and until that's unavoidable, I'd rather he not know. It would just make him worry, and not only is he still recovering from surgery, he just started sleeping through the night again."

"Fair point. For now, at least, he doesn't have to know." Bruce agreed.

"Thank you, Bruce." Pepper smiled. "For everything. I'll leave you to your work."

His voice stopped her at the door. "Pepper."

"Hmm?"

"...I don't think... I'm not..."

"I know. The chances are good that I'm not going to live through this."

"I'm sorry."

"I am too, Bruce. Don't tell Tony."


	3. Breaking

**Author's Note: I have received some feedback that my medical information has been left somewhat... wanting, so I suppose that this bears explaining. While dear Bruce is absolutely a medical genius, I know exactly what I've pulled off of Google, which is not much. Anything that Bruce has to say about the Sepsis condition is what the internet tells me is fact. Anything else I add in is me hoping that artistic license will cover the fact that I effectively recreated an actual medical condition to suit my purposes and titled it 'a new strain.' Anyway, this chapter... This chapter is wholly unnecessary to further the story. I really only wrote it because I've been kind of obsessed with being inside Bruce's mind lately, and I know I won't be able to continue this fic until I've gotten this out of my system. With that in mind, I humbly present a Bruce-centric chapter.  
**

"Here, I have something for you." Bruce muttered, pulling open the drawer he now reserved just for her.

"Miss Potts, Dr. Banner, I hate to interrupt, but Mr. Stark is asking me to record audio in this room." Jarvis said dryly. "He's rather insistent."

"Open an audio channel to Tony's workroom please, Jarvis." Pepper requested.

"Potts, what are you doing in there?" Tony asked, his voice radiating through the room. "And what are you holding, Banner?"

Banner held up the injection. "Cobalamin, Stark. Hypoglycemic. It's for your girlfriend." He brushed Pepper's hair out of the way and slid the needle into her neck. "That's Vitamin B-12 or those of us who are less well informed."

"Vitamins? You okay, Pep?"

"I've just been a little tired lately." Pepper lied smoothly. "Bruce says this will help."

"Uh huh... So why have you spent the last few weeks spending every spare minute with Anger Management?"

"_Tony_!" Pepper rolled her eyes. Only Tony.

"It's okay, Pepper." Bruce said quietly. "He's right, really."

"I don't really like this arrangement, Pep." Tony commented. "He could Hulk out."

"Your displeasure is noted." Pepper said haughtily.

"I could." Banner agreed mildly. "He has a point. Every minute you spend with me, your life is in danger."

"I'm not afraid, Bruce."

"You should be."

"What are you two doing in there all the time anyway?" Tony asked. "And why don't you want to be recorded?"

Bruce glared at the camera. "Because I have a laundry list of problems that I don't want people knowing about." He snapped. "Sorry if I'm not interested in sharing my sob story with you. Pepper's been listening."

"Tony, I'm turning audio off now. Don't badger Jarvis about it." Pepper said, going with Bruce's lie easily. "Jarvis?"

"I am shutting off the recording technology in this room, Miss Potts. You may talk freely."

"So I'm helping you with your issues? That's your story?" Pepper asked, half smiling.

"I had to give him something that's not the truth, since you seem hell bent on him not finding out about what we're actually doing in here."

"You know... it doesn't _have_ to be a lie." Pepper said cautiously. Bruce smiled wryly.

"How did I know that was coming?" He sighed. "I'll keep my insecurities to myself, though, thanks."

"That's not fair. You're doing something to help me."

"I don't know that whining about the fact that my daddy beat me as a little kid is going to help." Bruce replied absently, checking her heart rate. "It's a little elevated, but the shot seems to be working. Your heart rate isn't nearly as high. Still have black veins?"

"What?"

"The black veins."

"No, not _that_. Your father."

"Pepper, it's not a big deal." Bruce shook his head. "It was years ago."

"That doesn't mean it isn't a big deal. Don't you know that when you're young like that..."

"I might repress my rage and emotional instability until it bursts out of me in the form of a huge green monster who hasn't developed mentally past early childhood and release all that pent up frustration by destroying entire cities? No. I had no idea." Bruce commented wryly. "I never said that the Other Guy was my only issue. He's just my biggest one."

"Tell me."

"Pepper, I really don't want to talk about it." Bruce said.

"I think you need to."

"Thanks, but no thanks." Bruce stood and went to the battered notebook that always sat on the right side of his work table. He flipped the pages idly, frowning down at them. "My mom was great." Pepper, sure that more was coming, sat still, watching him watch his hands. He smiled wryly and glanced at her. "You really don't want to hear this."

"Maybe not." She said quietly. "But I think you need to say it."

"Mom was great." He repeated with an almost childlike smile that quickly turned bitter. "When she managed to see me."

"What do you mean?"

"My father... named me after his dad. Who beat the hell out of him. He never wanted kids, was sure that Banners were terrible people. He had issues, my father. Paranoia. Was convinced that some explosion at his job had messed him up on a genetic level, and that it got passed on to his kid." The fact that Bruce's mother was 'mom' and his father was 'my father' didn't escape Pepper, nor did the way he spoke in fragmented sentences, but she stayed silent. She got the feeling she was only beginning to scratch the surface. "He... didn't know what to do with me. So he didn't. Spent the first years of my life raised by a nanny who didn't give a damn, seeing Mom only when he couldn't stop her."

"Bruce..."

"One Christmas... I was maybe four or five... Mom gave me this model. It was this complicated airplane thing, with actual flight power. She gave it to me because she wanted me to have something to keep me occupied for a couple months, so that I could proudly show off that I built it the next time I saw her. It should have taken me forever, particularly since she didn't give me the assembly manual. I was too stupid to hide how smart I was. I put it together in twenty minutes... just enough time for my father to come and collect her, and me dumb enough to show it off like I thought he'd be _proud_ of me or something. He gave me a black eye and a broken jaw for my trouble, did my old man." He rubbed his jaw, relieving the pain from a phantom injury, something that had long since healed, but still hurt in a quantifiable way. "Things were never the same after that. I still rarely saw Mom, but I saw _him_ all the time. Quality time with daddy, adding up in scrapes, bruises, and bloodied lips and noses." _You're a monster, Robert! You're a monster and you'll never amount to anything else! _"A monster... he didn't know how right he was."

"You aren't a monster. He was." Pepper insisted.

Bruce laughed bitterly. "You sure about that? My old man killed one person. My body count is considerably higher." He glanced up at Pepper, giving her a smile that held no mirth. "Mom one night tried to take me away. He split her skull on the pavement right there in front of me, then bullied me out of testifying against him. Dumb son of a bitch got drunk a couple nights later and confessed, bragging about how he terrified his mutant ten year old son out of tattling on him. Got himself institutionalized and I went to live with my aunt and things got better. By then, I guess the damage was already done."

"What happened to your father?"

"He got out when I was twenty five. Stayed with me for a while, still hated me. On the anniversary of Mom's death, he came after me at her grave. Told me that it was my fault she was dead, blamed me. He had always loved Mom, and I guess he was jealous because she loved me. I told him off, we got into a fight. I split his skull on Mom's headstone by accident. I killed my own father..." Bruce ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head.

"After what he did to you..."

"He was right. My father saw this _thing_ inside of me before even _I_ knew he was there. He recognized that monster." He looked at the ground, his eyes far away, seeing something over the course of decades. "He should have killed _me_ that night, not Mom." His voice was so broken that it brought tears to her eyes.

"Don't say that."

"Why not?" He asked sharply, looking at her. "I'm facing an eternity of this. _He can't die_. God knows I've tried enough times."

"How many times?"

"I stopped counting at forty eight." Bruce replied, shrugging. "The first time... the first time was bad."

She didn't want to know. No part of her wanted to know. He told her anyway.

"It was maybe a year after the accident... this idiot tried to mug me... Put a gun to my head... _He_ broke out, and when I woke up, I was laying in a pool of someone else's blood. He had literally been _ripped__ apart_. His gun was in my hand. I ate a bullet and woke up with the taste of metal in my mouth and a bullet in my hand that he had crushed flat." Bruce pulled open yet another drawer and dropped a gun on the table, dented where a massive fist had held it. "Trusty thing still works, though never on me. I've shot myself with this... twenty? Thirty times? My mouth, my temple, my heart... I've overdosed on everything I can find, I've tried to freeze him to death, I've tried to hang myself, I've jumped from _twelve_ buildings, all from at least the thirtieth floor. I've tried to drown myself. I've synthesized cancer. I built a fucking nuclear bomb and set it off near the south pole, sitting right beside it. I hurt the Ozone layer, I killed _scores_ of wildlife. He got up and walked away. I can't kill him." His voice cracked and he pulled his glasses off, running a hand over his face. "I'd _love_ to die. The only thing that keeps me going some days is deciding what to try next. Tony thinks I'm in here looking for a cure. Sometimes I am. Sometimes I'm trying to figure out what to try next. I'll get up and walk away from that too. At least I have a handle on it."

"How? How do you keep control?"

"Let me ask you something. You.. right now. You have this... thing... inside you."

"Right..."

"Can you forget it?"

"Of course not." She could pretend to be fine, run her life - and Tony's - with the same efficiency as ever. She could hide the fact that she was dying from the world. But never herself.

"What's it taking from you?"

She really considered his question before answering. What _had_ she given up in the last few weeks? All she saw was Tony. Tony's smile, Tony at the peak of pleasure, chest heaving, pupils blown wide like molten chocolate, the moment after when his body started to calm, the way he snuggled up close and whispered her name with reverence. The way he got excited whenever he was onto something big, the way he gave her that infuriating, cocky grin. Then she saw him hurting, whimpering in his sleep because his dreams were too much for him, the earnest way he looked at her when something was _really_ wrong, the way he shouted at her to get out of a collapsing house in Malibu, his one and only real protection being wasted to keep her safe, leaving him vulnerable and absolutely uncaring, because _she_ at least, would make it out alive. She saw his face staring down at her as she fell an impossible distance, read the regret and the misery in his eyes. She wondered if that was what he would look like if she died this time. No, _when_ she died. She wouldn't escape Death a second time. She knew it with a sudden certainty that floored her. There would be no cure, no help. There was nothing Bruce could do to save her. Nothing Tony could do. There would be no 'hulking out' as Tony called it, no Ironman to swoop in and rescue her half a second before the moment of impact. She looked at Bruce and sighed inwardly. Now there were two people to keep the secret from. She couldn't tell Bruce that he couldn't save her. Not after the way he had just bared his soul to her. She could, however, understand. "It's taken everything."

"That's how I stay calm. That anger you're feeling? That _hate_ for the thing inside that's destroying you? I feel it, all the time."

Pepper stared at him in disbelief. She didn't feel anger or hate, just an unpleasant resignation. A knowledge that she couldn't be saved, and maybe a twinge of regret that she would lose the people she loved so soon after realizing she loved them. But then... she was going to die. He couldn't. He was, by far, the most broken man she had ever met. He was desperate and scared, and for the first time she realized that while he had grown older, he had never grown up from the little boy suffering abuse and neglect. In a fit of something like maternal concern, she hugged him. He froze for a long moment, then dropped his head onto her shoulder, shaking quietly. "Is okay." She murmured.

"No it isn't." He replied, and then he broke.

"Rough day?" Tony asked that night, rubbing a thumb over the tear tracts on her cheek.

"Tony... he's been through so much." Pepper said, remembering the way he had broken, holding her in an iron grip, shaking and helpless as he sobbed into her shoulder. She had held on, let him lose himself for a brief period. She had no way to help him but this.

"I know. I've read up on him."

"You don't know." She shook her head. "He needs you. I think you're the only friend he's ever had. Promise me that you'll take care of him."

"He's not a child that needs taking care of, Pepper." Tony murmured.

"No, he's not a child, but he _does_ need taking care of. Promise me, Tony." Pepper insisted anxiously. _I won't always be around to do it. You have to be there for him_.

"Okay, okay. I promise. I'll look after Banner." Tony surrendered, pulling her into a hug. "It got pretty deep today, huh?" She nodded against his chest. "Wanna tell me about it?"

"I don't think he wants anyone to know." She didn't blame him. She understood, after all. She snuggled close, closing her eyes. She was exhausted, and it was finally beginning to hit her. This man, this wonderful, _infuriating_ man would be lost to her in just two months. "I love you, Tony Stark."_  
_

He smiled, hugging her against his chest. "I love you too, Pepper Potts."

**Author's Note part 2: Okay, maybe I did squeeze in a little bit of actual plot development there. I also figured out exactly how I'm going to make this story happen. There are only a few chapters left to this story, and then I will be writing a sequel under the Avengers category. I dearly hope that I will receive the same amount of support for that fic. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Revelation

**Author's Note: This story is rapidly drawing to a close, and we're getting closer and closer to the sequel, along with a Bruce-centric fic that will also be under the Avengers category. I will TRY MY BEST to update both regularly. I make no promises. Reviews are always appreciated. **

"Pepper."

She looked up from the paperwork and frowned. Tony was leaning in the doorway to her office with his arms crossed over his chest and a plaintive look that she didn't like. _Stall_. Her mind urged her. "Tony, I can't talk right now. There's a-"

"What are you not telling me, Pep?"

She remembered asking him the same question a little over two years ago. Now, she just sighed and shook her head. "It's nothing, Tony."

"... You're not in love with Bruce, are you?"

She almost laughed at the sheer insanity of falling in love with Bruce Banner, but stopped herself. Only sheer desperation had made him ask, and that wasn't something to laugh about. She stood, walked around her desk, and hugged him tightly around the waist. "No, Tony." She kissed him, deep and long and slow, trying to convey everything she couldn't tell him. He was frowning when she pulled away, making her hope that some of it, at least, had gotten through. "One genius driving me insane is enough." She teased softly.

"You two seem really close lately, is all."

She shrugged. "We are, but that doesn't mean I love him."

"I miss you, you know. You've barely had time for me."

She had been avoiding him, to be honest. Even now, she was resisting the urge to break her own promise to herself and blurt it out. _I'm dying, Tony, and there's nothing you can do to save me. The cure you made infected me with this thing that's killing me. _He couldn't know. He would think that he killed her, which was completely incorrect. He would think it anyway, and the knowledge would destroy him. "I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you."

"What do you say we take a leave? Hop on the plane, go to Paris for the weekend? New experience?"

"New experience? You've been to Paris."

"Not in the springtime."

"May '04."

"I don't remember that."

"You wouldn't." She replied, kissing him again. "I found you passed out drunk under L'Arc de Triomphe wearing your tie, your boxers, and nothing else."

The smile was slow to spread across his face. "Oh yeah..."

"You're incorrigible. Tell you what. I'm leaving work at six. I'm going to stop by Bruce's lab, and you can make me dinner? We can go over the plans for the new house in Miami. Say... seven?"

"You run a hard bargain, Potts, but I think I can make it happen." Tony agreed. "Don't work too hard."

"I always work hard. It's the reason _you_ can slack off." She kissed him once more and shooed him out of her office.

The only word she could possibly use to describe Bruce was _harried_. His clothes were wrinkled, he had clearly been skipping sleep, and his hair stuck up at all angles. "What attempt is this?" She asked mildly while Bruce slipped a needle into her arm.

"Eighteen. It's a permutation of-"

"I don't need to know what's in it." She interrupted. "I don't know what any of them are supposed to so anyway."

"Right. If it works, the effects of Sepsis should start fading in a few hours." Bruce said. "Let me know how things go."

"I will. Get some sleep, Bruce, you need it."

"Okay Mom." He replied sarcastically. There was an undertone of sincerity in his words that made her smile. It would have been too complicated to explain to Tony that Bruce had made some connection in his mind between her and his mother. It would have taken too long to explain that, in some capacity, Bruce _did_ love her, or that she loved him too the same way. It was a very different love than what she felt for Tony, but it was there, nonetheless.

As the elevator traveled to the floor where she and Tony lived, she berated herself for it. _How could you do that to them? You practically_ **forced** _Bruce to open up to you, and you've been so terrible to Tony, and for what? So that you could cause even more pain for the two men you know that deserve it the least? Shouldn't you be minimizing the casualties that you'll cause?_ For the first time ever, she understand how Bruce could hate himself so much.

Halfway through dinner with Tony, she realized that she was missing it by not paying attention. Tony was rambling on about some breakthrough he had made for the Mark 6 armor, something about it being so advanced that soon he would be able to leave the Earth's atmosphere, because he clearly needed to be able to do that, just in case.

She interrupted his raving to kiss him, tangling her fingers in his hair and holding him like she could stop her body from wasting away as long as she didn't let go of him. He was the one to break the kiss - a first, for Tony. "Pepper, what's wrong?"

"I'm not allowed to kiss you?" She teased lightly.

He shook his head. "Not like that. Not like you're... I don't know. Just not like that, okay?" Not like she was saying goodbye.

"Okay, Tony."

Bruce looked up the next morning in surprise when the door of his office slammed open. Tony threw a sheet of paper at him. _"What the hell is this about, Banner?!_"

Bruce put his glasses on, and, moving slowly, picked up the sheet from where it was lying on the floor.

_Tony, _

_I wish I could explain why I'm doing this, but I can't. I'm leaving, and I'm not coming back. I'm sorry to tell you like this, but you would have stopped me, and I couldn't let that happen. I would ask you to understand, but I know I wouldn't, in your place. So I'll ask you to forgive me instead. Not right now, but one day. _

_Stark Industries is well organized and will take care of itself for a while. You know I would never leave you with a mess on your hands, especially not at a time like this._

_I doubt you'll honor this, but I'm asking you not to look for me. _

_I've always loved you, Tony. Even when you went through an entire harem of women without looking twice at me. I've been happy enough in the last two years with you to last me a lifetime. I've always loved you. I always will. Take care of yourself for me. _

_Yours,_

_Pepper. _

"Dammit..." Bruce ran a hand through his hair, setting the paper on his desk. "Dammit."

"What's going on, Banner? I don't want any of that 'she's been helping me with my issues' bullshit either. _I want the truth._"

Bruce couldn't meet his eyes. "She's dying." When Tony didn't respond, Bruce looked at him. His teammate was staring at him in shock and horror. "That's what we've been doing in here, trying to cure her."

"Wh... She... _How_?" There was desperation in his voice, and even more in his eyes.

"Sep... Blood poisoning. Something in the cure reacted badly with-"

"_What_ cure?"

"Yours." Bruce replied. "The flaw in the Extremis virus reacted with the cure you used. It created a new strain of Sepsis. Pepper asked me not to tell you. She said you'd blame yourself."

"How long have you known?" Tony asked quietly.

"Two months, give or take."

"How... how long does she have?"

"A month. Maybe a bit more. I've been trying to find a cure, but it hasn't been easy."

Something inside Tony snapped, and Bruce clamped down on the monster inside him when Tony seized him by the collar. "_Make it easy, Banner_. If she dies, so help me, I will kill you. I don't care if it takes the rest of my life, I will _find a way_."

"You have to find her first." Bruce replied softly. "And fast. It's a race against time, and her life is hanging in the balance."

"I'll find her. You just have a cure waiting for her when I get back." He threw Bruce away from him and stormed out of the room. "Jarvis, find Pepper."


End file.
